Four months after the collapse of the railway station canopy in Novi Sad and the deaths of 15 people, student protests in Serbia show no signs of fading. On the contrary, they are growing larger, taking the shape of a full-scale civic uprising.
In a country where democracy has been eroding for years, with over 60 universities blocked, Generation Z is giving a lesson in civic engagement. With banners featuring symbols of bloody hands and slogans such as “Corruption kills,” and “We are all under the canopy,” standing in a 15-minute silence, students and citizens demand accountability from all those involved in the reconstruction of the canopy, which collapsed on citizens just four months after its official opening in July 2024.
Despite facing violence, the gathered students and citizens persist in their peaceful and unwavering resistance, calling for justice, transparency, and responsibility while reminding the nation of the true meaning of democracy and unity.
But how did Serbia find itself “under the canopy”? What makes these protests different? And how did it come to this – that a generation we all underestimated, and a system betrayed, is now giving us a lesson?
“Students Do Not Condone Violence”: 15 Minutes of Silence for the 15 Victims
Paid 65 million euros, accompanied by secret contracts and works with a large number of contractors and subcontractors who received jobs through questionable means, on November 1, 2024, the 300-ton concrete canopy of the railway station collapsed, killing 15 and severely injuring two people.
Since that day, citizens across Belgrade and Novi Sad have been spontaneously stopping for 15 minutes every day, in memory of the 15 victims, wherever they happen to be at 11:52, the time of the collapse. Many stop at their workplaces and on university campuses. Bus drivers exit their vehicles and stand in silence. “Everything must stop for something to start,” the students proclaim.
The protests, which began as a peaceful tribute to the victims, soon escalated when hooded thugs and police officers, who refused to identify themselves, started attacking demonstrators. During one such gathering, on November 22, in front of the Faculty of Dramatic Arts (FDU), professors and students were assaulted.
The following day, FDU students declared a blockade which they begin on November 25th – until all demands are met. More than four months later, the blockade is still ongoing.
Other universities soon joined the movement, blocking universities and leading protests and marches nationwide. They gained support from professors, tens of thousands of citizens, the Serbian Bar Association – which halted work for a month – farmers, artists, healthcare workers, and even the Pensioners’ Union – an organization previously believed to be under the dominant influence of regime propaganda.
By this point, over 60 state universities and higher education institutions are blocked, with the support of over 5,000 university professors. The protests have spread to over 300 cities and towns in Serbia, including places where demonstrations had never been held before, making this the largest student movement in Europe since 1968.
Up to this point, everything remains stagnant, and the illusion of democracy continues. Up to this point, none of the demands have been met, and the protests are growing larger.
Protesters and police guarding the City Assembly building in Novi Sad. Photo by Lav Boka
The Scale of the Protests and Student Demands
Citizens and students want the same thing – that the system works. And they believe they can fight for this by putting pressure on the institutions of the system.
The Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) has been in power for 13 years, consolidating control over institutions and media while ruling through fear and violence. Thanks to a powerful propaganda machine and captured institutions, the government has repeatedly evaded accountability for various events labeled as “accidents” and “tragedies” rather than crimes that could be traced back to those responsible if everyone did their job consistently.
Even though Serbia’s government is largely personified in the figure of President Aleksandar Vučić, as is often the case with authoritarian regimes, the students’ demands do not call for his resignation or the resignation of government members. Instead of addressing individuals, they address institutions – primarily the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office, to identify those responsible for the accident. Their demands are:
1. The publication of the complete documentation regarding the reconstruction of the railway station in Novi Sad (which, by law, must be public).
2. The dismissal of charges against those arrested and detained during the protests.
3. The submission of a criminal complaint by the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MUP) to the relevant public prosecutor’s office in Belgrade against individuals who physically attacked students and professors (some of whom were later identified as members of the ruling party).
4. A 20% increase in state funding for public universities.
As they call for dialogue with students and offer preferential housing loans, government officials have attempted to defend the attacks on protesters, where the same distressing scenario occurred multiple times – a car crashing into a crowd and injuring several people, mostly students. So far, no one has been held accountable for these incidents.
After one of the incidents, a group of students gathered outside SNS party offices in Novi Sad was attacked by several individuals who, exiting the same offices, were carrying baseball bats. During the attack, one of the female students suffered a dislocated jaw, and the media established a connection between one of the attackers and Prime Minister Miloš Vučević. The following day, Vučević submitted his resignation, which, however, still has not passed parliamentary debate almost two months later.
“It’s much harder to have a dialogue with a dislocated jaw,” students respond to the president, who just a few hours earlier invited them to talks.
Student Plenums and Direct Democracy
Although Serbia has a long history of protests, as well as a long history of the ruling party’s ability to quell protests through ignorance and strong media propaganda, it seems that this time the situation is different. Every attempt to suppress the student and civic movement has only drawn more people to the streets.
Students rarely mention the president, often reminding him that he is “not competent” and should return to his scope of duties. Calling him “an institution of mostly ceremonial authority,” they deliberately target the weak points of an autocratic ego, but the real challenge for the government appears to be their method of organization.
Namely, students have no official representatives, and those who speak to the media are chosen by student plenums, meaning new faces appear in interviews almost every time.
But what are plenums, and why plenums instead of a student parliament?
Like many Serbian institutions, the student parliament is under pressure and influence from the government. In response, they have chosen to organize through plenums – a main body where all decisions related to the protests are made democratically. Much like the Athenian Agora, in plenums anyone can speak and propose ideas, and decisions are made by a simple majority vote.
These plenums and working groups elected by them, joined by experts – professors, deans, and rectors – become hubs of knowledge, ideas, and political change, delivered through a model where no one can take their legitimacy. Without leaders who could become targets for tabloids or be blackmailed and manipulated, the government faces an opponent it has not been accustomed to – one without a face.
Even though Generation Z has often been described as overly individualistic, apolitical – but concerned only with their rights, and thus spoiled, psychotherapist Iva Branković believes it is actually a lack of authoritarianism.
“They are free from authoritarianism. They don’t believe in leaders just because they are told someone is a leader. Their way of organizing proves it’s possible. They aren’t just focused on their own rights; they care about rights in general and don’t shy away from challenging authority unless that authority is legitimate, ” explains the psychotherapist.
So, is this true apoliticism, or is it simply a rejection of a system they were born into but refuse to be part of?
“We don’t want to leave,” say students who have grown up with only two paths to a better future – one is a party membership card, and the other is a passport and leaving the country. Their love for their country is rooted in a simple principle – that the Constitution must be respected and that the law should apply equally to all. Their message is a plea for freedom and justice, and the strength and freshness of their rebellion leave an impression that these protests could evolve into a movement that will find its place beyond the borders of Serbia.
Student Marches and the Process of Healing Collective Trauma
So far, students have organized several major marches, the latest and longest of which was a 160-kilometer walk to Niš, completed over five days. Along the way, citizens welcomed the students as liberators, addressing them as such with bows, embraces, tears, food, and drink.
Scenes that have been shaking Serbia for weeks are interpreted by psychologists as the process of healing collective trauma. In this sense, it is accurate to say that these protests are not merely political but also deeply personal, emotional, and psychological events. In a society that has lived for years in acquired helplessness, apathy, silence, and endurance – convinced that there is no alternative – a group of people has emerged with the full force of their youth and unwavering determination, proving that another way is possible, that change is possible.
Through their marches, students are liberating Serbia from fear and reminding everyone that they are not alone, that they are all together in this. United under the flag, the coat of arms, and the anthem, Orthodox Christians, Catholics, and Muslims walk and pray together – demonstrating the beauty of tolerance, empathy, and solidarity.
Psychologist Ana Perović believes that: “We cry because our students have shown us that, perhaps unconsciously, we agreed to pay for life in Serbia with our dignity and integrity. These moments help reduce the sense of isolation. In such moments, protests cease to be merely an expression of resistance – they become a space where we heal social wounds, a space for reconnection, and proof that solidarity and caring for others are our strongest allies in the fight against collective trauma.”
A moment from the 160 km protest march heading toward Kragujevac. Photo by Dunja Dopstaj
Pumpaj! – No Lowering the Tension!
During the protests, the simultaneously humorous and serious phrase “Pumpaj” (“Pump It”) has practically become a slogan and symbol meant to lift the atmosphere and maintain momentum. “Pumpaj” means not stopping, continuing in the same rhythm, without a break, without giving up.
Unlike previous generations of student protestors who used classic political slogans and messages, today’s protests adopt elements of Internet culture laced with irony and memes. “Pumpaj” thus becomes the voice of a new generation that chooses to rebel in a different way from their parents. Without ideological slogans and serious speeches, they carry their rebellion in their hearts: “The heart is a pump, and we pump from the heart!”
“Pumpaj” serves as a reminder that tensions must not be released, that it’s important to increase the pressure until the balloon bursts, until things are set in their place, meaning – everything and everyone within their respective powers. In this way, “Pumpaj” embodies irony, seriousness, determination, and laughing at the self-declared authorities while respecting true ones.
Accordingly, it is no surprise that students insist on distancing themselves from politics and political parties, emphasizing that they are not seeking a change of government, but the functioning of institutions. Ironically, however, the functioning of institutions in this case would likely entail the change of the government.
“Protests usually depend on at least the threat of violence, while at the same time expressing a willingness for real open dialogue in which the ruling regime would take them seriously. Here, the situation is the opposite: there is no threat of violence, but there is a clear refusal of dialogue. This insistence on demands creates confusion with its simplicity, giving rise to conspiracy theories: who is behind all of this?” says Slovenian philosopher and social critic Slavoj Žižek, adding that these protests are not only demanding changes in the government – they want deeper, fundamental changes in the functioning of state institutions.
“What Do We Have Left If Not Each Other?”
While experts from Serbia nominate students for the Nobel Peace Prize and top government officials label them as foreign mercenaries and Ustaše (a term that Serbs and Croats used to refer to members of a WWII-era Croatian ultranationalist and fascist movement), it is interesting that Europe remains mostly quiet on the current events in Serbia. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen recently expressed support for “the Georgian people fighting for democracy,” yet has remained silent on Serbia – a country that has been an official EU candidate since 2012.
Despite this, the government does not hesitate to call the student protests a “color revolution orchestrated by the West,” but when addressing Western officials, they describe mass gatherings as Russian agents infiltrating the country. Although the government’s flirtation with both Europe and Russia is unsurprising, the truth is that the student protests are neither of these things, but rather a cry for basic civil rights, for the rule of law, and respect for the Constitution.
“The student protests prove that, in certain situations, a simple call for law and order can be more subversive than anarchic violence,” observes Slavoj Žižek, commenting on the students who, after organizing their gatherings – usually ending around midnight – stay behind to clean the areas where they protested.
“We are each other’s stewards,” they say as they march, without EU flags or any other symbols that would emphasize divisions among them. Because, among the protesters are undoubtedly people who, under normal circumstances, would never stand together in the same place. Yet, in these new circumstances, they are united under the Serbian flag – both those who look to the left and those who look to the right, both young and old. When fundamental rights are stripped away, human needs and goals become the same.
A weak opposition, the lack of support, and the absence of criticism from the EU have left the demonstrators looking neither to the East nor the West – but to themselves. This time, the old are learning from the young, and many finally opening their eyes to regime propaganda. Masses of people betrayed by the system, those who grew up dreaming of the “brotherhood and unity” of Yugoslavia, now greet messages of support from neighboring countries with tears in their eyes – because they carry the same, never fully healed wounds. “All the wounds of my people hurt me,” reads one of the protest banners. And now, it seems, the time has come for some of them to finally heal.
As the regime continues to resort to dirty tricks to suppress this peaceful and dignified rebellion, it is moving to witness the seeds of democracy sprouting in the dry, autocratic soil.
Presently, the outcome of this situation and the protests, which can be entirely described as avant-garde, remains uncertain. Will the next major gathering scheduled for March 15th in Belgrade bring about any change?
No matter what happens, this anti-populist movement has already accomplished something extraordinary. Smiling faces on the streets, empathy, and the solidarity of the masses promise that there is no turning back. And what that truly means remains to be seen.
Author: Dijana Knežević, writer, poet, and participant in the current protests.
Photo Credits: Gavrilo Andrić, Lav Boka, Dunja Dopstaj
